Stories of Self Defense

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Who knew that properly disposing of hundreds of metal objects made to withstand small, controlled explosions would be so difficult?

Apparently not the Santa Fe, NM Police Department. Last year the city hosted its first gun buyback program in hopes of reducing violent crime (yeah right).

The program did net over 600 firearms including pistols, rifles and shotguns. The big questions was what to do with the firearms after the event ended. The logical answer is of course to bury them in the earth. According to KRQE,

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but that’s not in the case for about 600 unwanted guns in Santa Fe. They met their demise when a bulldozer rolled over them Wednesday morning at a landfill.

“We had a challenge in disposing of these guns, we wanted to make sure that they were thoroughly destructed so that you couldn’t put any pieces together, couldn’t be reconstructed in any way,” explained Celina Espinoza, spokesperson for the Santa Fe Police Department.

The guns were destroyed early in the morning so the day’s trash from the city, roughly 500 tons, went right on top. The idea is to bury them, never to be found again.

Residents were paid between $100-200 in gift cards for turning in the firearms.